Barça 6 Atletico Madrid 1
Saturday, 04 October 08, 04:49 PM · Comments (35)
Barça destroyed Atletico Madrid tonight with a superb display of attacking football. If in the last two games we had to wait until injury time to seal the three points, tonight the victory was all but sewn up after just ten minutes. Marquez, Eto'o and Messi put Barça 3-0 in just eight minutes and by the half hour we were 5-1 up.
Games between these two clubs have a history of producing high scoring, incident packed games and tonight's clash was no exception. Leo Messi played a blinder and won the battle with Kun Agüero hands down, but the performance of unsung players such as Eric Abidal and Eidur Gudjohnsen was just as pleasing to see.
Pep Guardiola made four changes to the team that started against Shakhtar. Abidal, Gudjohnsen, Busquets and Messi came in in place of Toure, Keita, Henry and the injured Dani Alves, which saw our versatile captain Carles Puyol at right back and a return to the classic 4-3-3 system.
After just two minutes Iniesta won a corner on the left and Xavi's kick was headed in at the near post by Rafa Marquez. then just a minute later Messi received the ball inside the area before a clumsy challenge from Ulfalusi had the referee pointing to the spot. Samuel Eto'o took this one and sent Coupet the wrong way for Barça's second. If that seemed too good to be true, three minutes later Messi won a free kick and as Atletico tried to organize their wall Messi took a quick one which went into the empty net while Coupet stood by the post trying to wipe the egg from his face.
Atletico pulled one back in the 13th minute when a mistake from Busquets allowed Maxi Rodriguez the chance to show his class by curling a beauty past Valdés. But any chance of a comeback was soon dispelled when Eto'o controlled Xavi's pass with his chest before turning the defenders this way and that and shooting low past the hapless Coupet.
Just before the half hour Iniesta and Messi briefly swapped wings but it gave Iniesta the chance, after receiving from Xavi, of running at the defence before shooting left footed against the base of the post, fortunately some days everything goes your way, and in this case the ball rebounded sweetly to Gudjohnsen who fired into the empty net. Iniesta had another try a couple of minutes later but this time his right footed curler from the left came back out off the far post.
There was still time before half time for Gudjohnsen to come close after excellent work from Xavi, and the Messi went on a tremendous run from inside his own half which ended with him just clipping the ball wide: a great shame as it would have been one of the goals of the season. Thirty seconds later Messi got another go, but he seemed to have not got over his previous effort and the defence recovered in time.
When a game finishes 5-1 at half time it is always going to be practically impossible to see a great second half, and the game went through a dull patch. However, Guardiola brought on Thierry Henry and Bojan Krkic and the game improved for a while culminating in the goal of the night from Henry. The Frenchman began the move himself pushing the ball forward to Xavi who flicked it on to Bojan who squared to Henry who had continued his run meeting the ball with a tremendous first time shot from outside the area which flew into the net.
All the players did well tonight, with fine displays from the usual stars Messi, Eto'o, Xavi and Iniesta; it was especially pleasing that players who have received a lot of criticism such as Gudjohnsen, Abidal and Henry can tonight sleep well in the knowledge that they did a good job today. The last time we stopped for an international break we had two long weeks to think about our defeat at Numancia. This time we will have two happy weeks to think about six successive victories with this fantastic display to top it off.
Barça: Valdés 6.5, Puyol 6.5, Marquez 7, Piqué 6.5, Abidal 8; Xavi 8.5 (Keita m74, 6.5), Busquets 6.5, Gudjohnsen 7.5; Messi 9 (Bojan m69, 6), Eto'o 8 (Henry m59, 7), Iniesta 8.
Goals: m3 Marquez 1-0, m5 Eto'o (pen) 2-0, m8 Messi 3-0, m13 Maxi Rodriguez 3-1, m18 Eto'o 4-1, m28 Gudjohnsen 5-1, m74 Henry 6-1
Barça yellows: m55 Marquez, m63 Henry.
Attendance: 75,232
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this was simply wonderful to watch. its been a long while ive felt SO happy watching this team!!! nothing bad to say at all. nic got it spot on and i was going to comment on both abdial and gudi. when i first saw gudi's name i wasnt very happy, but he put on a pretty great performance. abidal looked to be the player lyon claimed he was. very happy with him. pray for consitency now!
truthfully everyone who started had a great game, puyol looked very good on the right and frankly this back 4 looked the best this season. i didnt realize alves was injured and thought pep made another bold and GREAT move dropping him because he has been far from good. anyhow, puyol looked solid and so enthusiastic.
but the stars were definetely xavi and messi. xavi is proving what ive been saying to people i know for years, that he is the BEST central midfielder on earth, bar NO ONE. no player has his technique, vision, touch, and pinpoint passing. and well, messi showed today he probably is the best in the world, he is complete, strong, fast, dribbling, shooting, finishing, amazing passing, and even headering seen recently. im a fan of CR too but really messi may just be in his own little one-man league.
i didnt agree with the freekick. im not in favor for these quick freekicks, i remember henry vs chelsea 4 yrs back or so. i think its unfair on the GK. anyhow, good for messi to be so alert.
i was ecstatic for henry to get that goal which was really a quality finish. hopefully he gains much confidence from it.
busquets had a decent match but really had two horrible blunders, one just before their goal and then the 2nd one directly cuased the goal. he really is a talent but if i do make one small critique, i still say yaya easily merits the start. im getting uneasy again with his constant absence.
its a perfect way to break for internationals, happy players, good spirits.
im going to sleep so well tonight. FORCA!
i think atletico had vital players missing tonite and had the right players in the wrong positions, in the twilight of the match they resorted to dirty tactics follow ups, pushings and trippings. when i switched on the match it was 3-o and thot i missed an entire half 
, and i think xavi deseved more than a 8.5 he was running the show nic,, what will make a complete all smiles weekend naw is for madrid to draw or even lose their game .
lA LIGA WE COMING 4U
BTW does anyone know why henry kisses his wrist when he scores???
the freekick was fine, soccer players should always be alert and ready instead of complaining....they should learn how to make walls during practice and not take 20 minutes fixing the wall during the game.....coupet was asleep, he doesnt get paid to do that so messi made him pay for it.
abidal was amazing today and ive always liked gudjohnsen so he didnt surprise me 2day. henry did great and i love it how messi defends as much as he attacks....i have never seen CR defend, messi can do it all.
and my god iniesta jeeez dude did u get a hair cut 1min before kickoff??
Simply amazing....Xavi on song - barca on song....what a shock horror 
Brilliant!
Cannot fault anyone tonight...be interesting to see any criticisms....
highlights
LINK
eto'o didn't look too happy getting off didn't even aknowledge the crowd why the hell cant he just swalowd his big head for once in his life and be professional Uzbhekistan any1? 
truely great perform all round. the best match that i've seen Barca play in a long while. see what a bit of confidence can do. 
35 Comments · Add yours
Terrible, shocking, a bloody disgrace.........no not the team they were great i mean Iniestas bloody haircut. Honestly when your thinning on top dont have ya hair cut extra short on the sides, it makes ya look like a pratt.
Well done lads i can sleep happy tonight you done the shirt proud.
poor iniesta..hit the woodwork twice...
maybe bad luck of new haircut